WORLD

Liu Xiabo, Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner, dies at 61

Liu Xiabo, a Nobel Laureate on Thursday died of cancer with multiple organ failures at the age of 61.

According to Chinese officials, Xiabo was admitted to a hospital in northeastern city of Shenyang last month, while he was serving a sentence of 11 years in jail.

Xiabo was diagnosed in 2014 of late-stage liver cancer. The jail announced last month that Xiabo had a lump in his abdominal region, hypotension, failing kidney functions, and partial intestine obstruction.

His sentence was given in 2009 for supporting a pro-democracy charter. He had been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his human rights activities.

His supporters and some countries had requested Xiabo be transferred to a hospital of his own will while Beijing administration had said the best treatment for him would be in China.

After receiving international public opinion, China had let two foreign doctors examine him.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson lauded the Nobel Laureate, saying "In his death, he has only reaffirmed the Nobel Committee's selection‎".

"Mr. Liu dedicated his life to the betterment of his country and humankind, and to the pursuit of justice and liberty," he said in a statement. "In his fight for freedom, equality, and constitutional rule in China, Liu Xiaobo embodied the human spirit that the Nobel Prize rewards. ​"

Tillerson further urged Beijing to​ release Liu's wife, Xia, from house arrest and allow her to leave China "according to her wishes".